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^^^ So you are making $40,000.00 forty thousand a month after your fees and cost of goods?
10% of 200 thousand is =$20,000. But he said he makes between 8-10% so that is figuring on the high end.
He also has that money tied up for a long time. And he said he didn't factor in packing materials or advertising.
So if he makes 9%, which is probably more relastic, he is making $18,000 per month. If they are little items then the packing can be as much as 25% of the cost. And he didn't mention the cost to mail the item, which could easily be half the cost of the total product. But even if we made that a low 25%, then he'd be making about $9000 per month. Now minus off his advertising costs from that, his computer, internet, gas etc.. and it's probably more like $7000. Now he pays taxes on $7000 per month so he probably makes what...$5000 or so per month. About $60,000 per year BEFORE taxes. I know he probably doesn't pay that much in taxes but we also didn't count the scammers whom didn't pay him. Who kept the product yet he was still out the shipping and the ebay fees so he paid some of his customers to steal from him. Part of the downside for Ebay sellers
With Ebay you cannot just pull your store and take a break. Amazon you can take your store offline, they call it "putting your store on vacation".
So he's probably working 12 hours a day on average to answer questions and deal with people
So where would you suggest people go to sell now? Let's say that they don't have a website following, where would they go to help them build that up?
I've had a lot of luck selling on specialized forums for the items I'm trying to sell. For example, since video games are my main resells, I've had tons of success listing stuff on different trading/selling game forums like gametz.com and cheapassgamer.com. If you were selling sports equipment, you could find a sports board or forum. It might be tricky at first finding the right place to sell the stuff you own, but most of these sites have trading/selling features built in (for buyer/seller protection) and there's NO seller fees.
As others have said, Amazon is pretty decent too, but I still look for specialized forums.
10% of 200 thousand is =$20,000. But he said he makes between 8-10% so that is figuring on the high end.
He also has that money tied up for a long time. And he said he didn't factor in packing materials or advertising.
So if he makes 9%, which is probably more relastic, he is making $18,000 per month. If they are little items then the packing can be as much as 25% of the cost. And he didn't mention the cost to mail the item, which could easily be half the cost of the total product. But even if we made that a low 25%, then he'd be making about $9000 per month. Now minus off his advertising costs from that, his computer, internet, gas etc.. and it's probably more like $7000. Now he pays taxes on $7000 per month so he probably makes what...$5000 or so per month. About $60,000 per year BEFORE taxes. I know he probably doesn't pay that much in taxes but we also didn't count the scammers whom didn't pay him. Who kept the product yet he was still out the shipping and the ebay fees so he paid some of his customers to steal from him. Part of the downside for Ebay sellers
With Ebay you cannot just pull your store and take a break. Amazon you can take your store offline, they call it "putting your store on vacation".
So he's probably working 12 hours a day on average to answer questions and deal with people
10% of 200 thousand is =$20,000. But he said he makes between 8-10% so that is figuring on the high end.
He also has that money tied up for a long time. And he said he didn't factor in packing materials or advertising.
So if he makes 9%, which is probably more relastic, he is making $18,000 per month. If they are little items then the packing can be as much as 25% of the cost. And he didn't mention the cost to mail the item, which could easily be half the cost of the total product. But even if we made that a low 25%, then he'd be making about $9000 per month. Now minus off his advertising costs from that, his computer, internet, gas etc.. and it's probably more like $7000. Now he pays taxes on $7000 per month so he probably makes what...$5000 or so per month. About $60,000 per year BEFORE taxes. I know he probably doesn't pay that much in taxes but we also didn't count the scammers whom didn't pay him. Who kept the product yet he was still out the shipping and the ebay fees so he paid some of his customers to steal from him. Part of the downside for Ebay sellers
With Ebay you cannot just pull your store and take a break. Amazon you can take your store offline, they call it "putting your store on vacation".
So he's probably working 12 hours a day on average to answer questions and deal with people
hey thanks for clearing that up. yeah your numbers are pretty spot on. fortunately my items don't cost alot to ship, generally just a couple bucks. fortunately i have a partner otheeerwise id never be able to keep up with the volume my ebay biz has grown to. and as for taxes we definately have to pay taxes over 200 transactions and 20k in a year paypal reports to the irs and i doo those numbers in just a couple days so im paying full taxes on everything.
your also right about losing. i've lost $500 just this week off missing package or people claiming they didnt receive packages. fortunately as long as a package shows delivered and if you do sig if its over 250 paypal will cover those losses. i generally lose a few hundred bucks a month to ebay scammers and chargebacks though
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Endicia is pretty critical to anyone selling a lot. No waiting in line for foreign shipments, deals with customs forms, easy insurance / tracking, etc. Worth every penny.
I am so glad I saw this thread. I have always had good luck in buying with ebay and have considered selling on it as I am a pack rat and need to clean out. Don't think so. I think Craigslist is the way to go. Not as much exposure but less hassle.
I wish more sellers and buyers would post on this thread.
Good thinking. Ebay can be very good but if you think it can sell on Craiglist, that is always the route
we take first. You should try both. Only downside to CL is the many no-shows but we schedule it when we'd be home anyhow
so it's no problem.
Last edited by californiawomann5; 11-21-2013 at 11:57 AM..
hey thanks for clearing that up. yeah your numbers are pretty spot on. fortunately my items don't cost alot to ship, generally just a couple bucks. fortunately i have a partner otheeerwise id never be able to keep up with the volume my ebay biz has grown to. and as for taxes we definately have to pay taxes over 200 transactions and 20k in a year paypal reports to the irs and i doo those numbers in just a couple days so im paying full taxes on everything.
your also right about losing. i've lost $500 just this week off missing package or people claiming they didnt receive packages. fortunately as long as a package shows delivered and if you do sig if its over 250 paypal will cover those losses. i generally lose a few hundred bucks a month to ebay scammers and chargebacks though
Wow, I was close eh? I forgot about chargebacks. So far, knock on wood, I've not gotten one. But don't do nearly the volume you do so that would make sense
My husband is disabled and selling on Ebay for 15 years, he makes anywhere from 5 to 15 thousand a month before expenses.
I won't say what he sells but buys broken, has learned how to fix and when he ships them, they look/work like new.
I wish I could tell you but then you would be his competition. People all over the world buy from him, I have asked if he gets scammed, he said only a few times.
My husband is disabled and selling on Ebay for 15 years, he makes anywhere from 5 to 15 thousand a month before expenses.
I won't say what he sells but buys broken, has learned how to fix and when he ships them, they look/work like new.
I wish I could tell you but then you would be his competition. People all over the world buy from him, I have asked if he gets scammed, he said only a few times.
its cellphones, lots of money in that. you can pick them up dirt cheap since most people dont wanna pay the big prices to get screens fixed if you dont know how to fix them yourself.
you buy them cheap, go buy a replacement screen for a few bucks, pop a new screen on there and resell it for 10x or more what you bought it for. pretty easy to do with tablets and computers as well.
I have posted about this before. I have three relatives who all sell the same things on ebay, and have for years. They have 200-300 items on sale at any given time. These items are easy and cheap to ship. They have the intestinal fortitude that I lack in that they lose money and make money on any given day. In order to "feed the beast", they must go on buying trips and spend thousands of dollars. This is not for sissies.
They have said that ebay is very hard to make money on any more, compared to the old days. The cards are stacked against sellers in favor of buyers. Many times their buyers lie about not receiving the product, and ebay refunds them. One person has opened a store instead, but the other two are still hanging in.
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I forgot about chargebacks. So far, knock on wood, I've not gotten one. But don't do nearly the volume you do so that would make sense
